Exalted: Tragedies of the Usurpation
by Spiritblade
Summary: [ONE SHOT] A story of a Solar's return to Creation. (COMPLETE)


_**An Exalted story**_

_**Tragedies of the Usurpation**_

_**Written by Spiritblade**_

**Disclaimer: **Exalted is the property of White Wolf. I do not own it, and this is my first attempt at writing an Exalted story (though it has inspired my other works). Enjoy, though it be a short story. And yes, if you do notice, my one key failure is that I have a tendency to reuse my characters (though I do make new ones when I have time…)

**(O)**

She remembered him. It had been a thousand years, but she would never forget him. For as long as Creation existed, her memory of him would endure. And even if she should forget, there would be those who would remember him for her. The Observatory of Eternal Memories was a place where Myreen Lhal, the Spear of Winter, would find refuge from her fellows and when her memories became too much to bear. Here, in this sacred place, Myreen needed to only close her eyes to remember her friend and the long decades they had spent walking the length and breadth of Creation. He had walked Creation only three times: once, during the Primordial War; the second time was during the High First Age and the third was in the decades prior to the Usurpation.

During the Primordial War, the Solar known as the Eye of Justice was the arch-rival of the Yozi known as the Angel of Bloody Flame, who had served as a captain in the armies of Malfeas. The two had fought the length and breadth of Creation. The Angel of Bloody Flame would bring to bear her demonic warriors and her terrible might to crush the Eye of Justice, but the latter always eluded her and struck back when she least expected it – and each retaliatory strike served to cripple the plans of the Angel's master in ways that the Eye's compatriots would swiftly exploit. But history, Myreen knew, was written by the victors – and those who sought to leave behind a legacy of glory that would endure the passing of the ages. The battles won by the Eye of Justice were insignificant in the greater scheme of things.

Records from the Primordial War indicated that the Eye focused his strength mostly on defending the mortal cities vulnerable to Primordial retaliation rather than striking at them directly. The reason for this was simple: the Eye of Justice was not as strong as his peers. In an army of demigods, he was the least amongst them – something his more haughty peers never failed to point out should the Eye of Justice forget his place in the order of things. Myreen smiled. He was the weakest, true, but he had been the most loved. Numerous elementals, lesser gods, Exalts and mortals regarded the Eye of Justice fondly. Stories and accounts from that age painted the portrait of a Solar who was more mortal than demigod – and whose antics had once caused even his (amused) Dragon-Blooded and mortal subordinates to threaten to transfer to another Legion.

The first incarnation of the Eye of Justice fell at the end of the Primordial War, slain by the Angel of the Bloody Flame in a titanic struggle, and who was defeated hours later when the Eye's outraged soldiers beat the lesser Primordial within an inch of her life. Had Gaia not turned aside their blows, the Angel would have joined those the Solars had slain in the Underworld. But, by then, the damage had already been done. Nobody knew – nobody _remembered_ – the name he had been born with. It was as if the fiery blade of the Yozi had erased the very _memory_ of the Angel's arch-rival from Creation. His deeds and voice became wisps of memory. The only proof that the Solar known as the Eye of Justice had existed had been on the holo-records and testimonials of those he had fought alongside and protected and the statue the citizens of a grateful city had erected in his honour.

The Eye of Justice would not return until centuries later, in the High First Age.

The essence of the forgotten Solar reincarnated in the young mortal known as Shateiel Spiritblade, a student in the Deliberative's Academy of Fine Arts and a reservist regular in the Deliberative Army. The young man exalted in the midst of a fierce battle between the Deliberative Army and the Fair Folk Legions of Princess Hundred Petals Falling. Imagine the horror of the Fair Folk Princess when the young warrior she sought to add to her harem erupted in solar glory and emerged from the blinding light and silver flames garbed in the ancient armour worn by the Solars of the Primordial War and clutching a Daiklave that all but screamed as he swung it. Myreen had been there. She remembered how the arrogant Fair Folk Princess, whose strength had been such that few – not even the Solar general in the army – could stand against her, take an involuntary step back.

One Solar she could handle. Two (and the second one clearly seemingly having stepped across two thousand years from a legendary age) was one Solar too many. Myreen remembered the annoyed look on his face as he looked at Princess Hundred Petals Falling, then her, then at the war that raged around him: _'__I must have offended His Majesty and the Five Maidens in my past life. Now, if only I could remember what I did to earn their ire…'_

Princess Hundred Falling Petals did not take the Eye of Justice's casual dismissal well. She had lunged at him with her twin swords that trailed flower petals as they cut through the air, only to find that the Eye of Justice had returned to the world with his powers and memories restored. The ensuing duel would cement the rivalry between Princess Hundred Falling Petals and the Eye of Justice. Even now, over seven centuries after the Usurpation, the Ballad of the Thousand Blades Clashing was sung by the minstrels of the Fair Folk to the nobles of courts, to remind them that there was worth in challenging, in loving and earning the enmity of the Unconquered Sun's Chosen. When the Eye of Justice perished in the Usurpation, Princess Hundred Petals Falling had been enraged and offended by the temerity of the Terrestrials; she had supported the Crusade of the monstrous Balor so that she could take revenge on the Dragon-Blooded. And take revenge she did: three thousand Dragon-Blooded perished on swords and Charms she had created for the day she and the Eye of Justice would end their rivalry in a fight worthy of song and word.

Myreen shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. Those bitter memories were the last thing she wanted to remember. They could wait. Nothing could change the past. After all, she had had a hand in killing him. It was the words of the third incarnation of the Eye of Justice that had made her say 'yea' when the Sidereals decided that the Solars, whose madness and decadence threatened Creation in a fashion unseen since the end of the Primordial War, must be cast down. Ironic that it had been one of their own who condemned them, and was regarded as a relic from a bygone (and better, in Myreen's opinion) age.

'_For all our power and glory, the fact that we are fallible mortals will never change. Seven sins __plague the children of Creation…and they are magnified to a greater degree in those whom Fate chooses to raise to glory. I have spent the last ten years, Myreen, admonishing my older brothers and sisters for their excesses. I have spent twice as long trying to right their many wrongs. We are slowly turning into the monsters we once defeated during the Primordial War.'_

But the centuries before the Usurpation was even an idea in the minds of the Dragon-Blooded had been glorious. Myreen remembered her exasperation as she taught the second incarnation of the Eye of Justice everything from Charms to History and Technology. Much had changed since the end of the Primordial Wars, and the Eye of Justice had a lot of catching up to do. Even before he completed his curriculum, a representative of Heaven's Ministry of Justice, a sub-division of the Bureau of Humanity, had come to offer the newly-returned Solar a position in its halls. Suffice to say, it had been one that made him unpopular with those Exalted who thought themselves above humanity – or the law.

And Shateiel, the second incarnation of the Eye of Justice, proved himself to be a shrewd individual. Crimes done by mortals would be dealt by mortal authorities. He and his Dragon-Blooded retinue would step in **ONLY** when their mortal compatriots were incapable of bringing the offender in; his duty was to deal with Exalts who stepped out of line. Myreen knew that the Eye of Justice would one day rule his own city or command his own Legion, especially if one considered his affiliation to the Solar Queen Merela, and so chose the best possible examples in which to mould her student: the rulers of Whitewall, Tenrae and Den'Rahin. The end result left Myreen satisfied, her peers envious and the Solar Queen grinning.

But if there was one thing that amused Myreen during the time she acted as advisor to the Eye of Justice, it was that he had a tendency to earn the affections of women despite his trying to do otherwise. While Shateiel had shown considerable interest in having a family of his own, he had no desire of starting a dynasty like many of his peers. It was, he said, too much work. How in Malfeas they had the endurance (or the time!) to bed so many local village girls, courtesans and noblewomen, he would never know! Unfortunately, Fate had decided that playing a prank on one of the more chaste Solars was too good a chance to pass up. Myreen remembered the soft voice in the Loom of Fate, whispering the destiny written for the Eye of Justice. She could almost _hear_ the laughter in the ethereal voice of the Tapestry, echoing those who followed the Eye into battle and did his will. It was a standing joke amongst the soldiers and citizens of the city that half the army would remain loyal to the Eye of Justice for one reason: they were all half-siblings sharing the same father.

The first woman to bed Shateiel had been one of his Dragon-Blooded officers, a beautiful Fire-Aspect who had taken up the wager of her fellows to see who among them could seduce their commander. She soon learnt how potent and addictive the coupling had been. What started off as a wager soon became a devotion, and the Dragon-Blooded officer soon drew her sisterhood into the slowly-growing harem of the Eye of Justice. The children that were born from the Eye's lovers that age grew to adulthood loving their parents. They were the Eye's one singular weakness, and his enemies learnt that exploiting that weakness drew the full ire of the Eye and his servants. Even his fellows Solars were not exempt, and the Solar Queen Merela had been forced to step in when the Eye of Justice promptly decapitated a particularly sadistic Eclipse Caste Exalt for raping one of his daughters. The Deliberative exploded in an uproar at Shateiel's actions and demanded that he be punished.

That, Myreen knew, had been the beginning. Merela and her supporters tried to stem the madness that was slowly gripping the Solars. They knew that the actions of the Eye of Justice had been vindicated by the fact that many of those who suffered the tender mercies of the Eclipse Caste Exalt he had slain bore scars both physically and spiritually. When his death had been announced on I AM, the Creation-wide communications network, citizens of the Deliberative had raised their cups in salute to the Solar who had dared to challenge those mightier than he.

In the end, Queen Merela proved unable to turn aside the judgment of her political adversaries. The Ministry of Justice in the celestial city of Yu-Shan watched as the Solars executed one of their own for upholding that which they had once championed.

Myreen stood up. The Solar Queen Merela brought the family of the executed Solar under her aegis, and made it clear that should anyone in the Deliberative threaten them, they would be facing her personally. It was not a threat taken lightly. If anyone could throw the book out the window, it was the Eye of Justice's patron.

'_The rot started long before I came back, Myreen. We can try to stop it, but the chains we make are __not meant to constrain demigods. And those chains were ever meant to be broken.'_

In the years after the second incarnation of the Eye of Justice had been executed, things went downhill. The madness of the Solars grew worse and the small handful that tried to control the excesses of their peers soon found themselves facing a nightmare of unimaginable proportions; one that led to Operation Wyldhand.

'_We were never more than mortals, Myreen.'_

The Sidereal stood up, feeling the old ache grip her heart.

'_We are fallible.'_

She felt pain and sorrow sink their claws deep into her soul.

'_We love and dream as mortals do. I want to be mortal again. I spare my children the fate of being one of the Chosen. They are more than mortals, but will never be mor__e than that. They can move the world in a way you and I cannot.'_

She remembered the way Shateiel's Dragon-Blooded and mortal lovers had shook as they watched their mate's execution. She remembered the whimpering voices of children who lost their innocence and their father in a single, cruel stroke. She remembered hate in the eyes of those who were powerless in the face of an Empire whose might was unchallenged ever since the end of the Primordial War.

'_The only way that the Lawgivers will change is if the__y realize that they are slowly becoming the monsters they defeated at the dawn of history.'_

When the third incarnation of the Eye of Justice came, the wheels of the Usurpation were slowly grinding towards its inexorable conclusion. Like the first and second incarnation, the third was a solitary but well-loved leader that even the Dragon-Blooded who sought to overthrow the Solars could not help but revere. But, where the second held a considerable amount of power, the third was cast down the moment his identity was known. The Ministry of Justice (and Queen Merela) gladly welcomed their lost comrade back and restored everything that was once his.

His attempts to draw his fellows back in line were met with derision, and the Dragon-Blooded watched as the third incarnation practically committed the mistakes (which wasn't one, in their eyes) of the second. When the Usurpation took place, Sheik Muhammad, the third incarnation of the Eye of Justice, was elsewhere. After he knew about Operation Wyldhand, he distanced himself from the Blessed Isle and the Deliberative. He had been the last Solar to perish…and he fell beneath the blades of Marama Anjei, the beautiful Dragon-Blooded courtesan-assassin whose hatred for the servant races of the Solars was matched only by her hatred of her masters.

'_In all the Deliberative, there was no one I hated more…and no one I loved more.'_

Fate had levied a cruel fate upon the Eye, but did so with a greater plan in mind. The Sidereal stood up and withdrew a blazing, solar-bright shard from under her robes. Hidden in plain sight, the Exaltation essence of the Eye of Justice was one of the few that had not been locked up in the Jade Prison. She strode forward to the edge of the Observatory, which opened up into the vast lands of Creation.

It was time. Time was slowly running out. The occlusion Charms she had put on the Loom of Fate would give out soon.

"You trusted me with your life and your eternity, old friend. You trusted me with your beliefs and the safety of your bloodline. And though I have succeeded to a degree, you must now ride again," Myreen spoke as she raised the essence high, its light blazing like a lance, "Ride, Horseman. Creation needs you once more. And this time, win."

She flung it down as the strands of Fate guided the shard to the child who would raise the forgotten banner of the Eye and sunburst emblem of the Justicar of Heaven.

_**Fin.**_


End file.
